DETROIT rock band Protomartyr are unlikely modern prophets.

Fronted by sharply-dressed singer Joe Casey, they've stayed largely under the radar even while their records have received positive reviews from the alternative music press.

And yet in Brighton they showed just why they have been touted as one of the most important guitar groups around today in a performance that balanced raw aggression, intricate musicianship and lyrical intrigue.

The band's latest album Relatives in Descent is, in part, about the impossibility of complete truth – a theme given all the more relevance by the US president's fondness for decrying opposing views as "fake news".

The first song on that record, A Private Understanding, was an early highlight, Casey bemoaning a "paradise for fools" and "this age of blasting trumpets" before a quietly affecting guitar line gave way to pedal-to-the-metal guitar roar.

The frontman seemed unhappy with the sound mixing at the venue, motioning for the engineer to make his vocal louder in his monitor, but to us in the audience every element of Protomartyr's diverse sound came through loud and clear.

The punk clatter of Don't Go To Anacita, with its punchy chorus, was met with a rowdy crowd response, while Casey's scattergun vocal delivery on Here is the Thing was as impressively rapid-fire as it is on record.

The standout of an impressive set, though, arrived near the end and saw the four-piece return to the theme of alternative facts. "Truth is the half-sister" sung Casey on Half Sister after the song's ferocious two-note guitar riff had merged into an emotional outtro.

Whether you're looking for lyrical intelligence or no-holds-barred guitar rock, Protomartyr are your band. There is nothing "fake news" about their rise to the peak of alternative music.